Crystal Clear
by Shadarii
Summary: I know it's really short. I'm wondering if I should continue it or not, make it end on a lighter note. What do you think? Let me know ^_^
1. Life Without the Sunlight

"But now that I'm way up here, it's crystal clear, that now I'm in a whole new world with you..."

I do not own Labyrinth. Although I would _love _to be able to take credit for something so wonderful and creative, I must be content with the story you see before you. The plot of my fanfic (and not the subject!) is the product of myself and my friends in the Magic Hall. This one's for y'all! ^_^   
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Love was not something old to the Goblin King. He had never experienced it, never gave it or received it. Never knew it. Until it was too late. 

Jareth sat moodily in his little stone castle. The goblins were...where were they? The King looked around and saw one goblin idly sipping from a chalice. "Excuse me...Skrann, is it?" The goblin jumped guiltily and looked up. Jareth smiled disarmingly. "So, do you enjoy the ale, Skrann?" He asked politely.   
"Uhmm..er...aye, yer Majesty, I does." Skrann shuffled in some discomfort.   
"Why, whatever is wrong, my dear Skrann? Why do you avert your eyes so?" Jareth added some injured concern to his tone.   
"I..uhhh...well..."   
"Perhaps you are lonely. I see that none of your friends are around today. Come, come sit by my throne and we'll talk." The goblin nervously stood and replaced himself next to his king.   
"Ah, isn't that better?" Jareth asked, grinning in a friendly way. "So, where exactly _are_ these friends of yours?"   
"They..uhh...they's outside. Yungle found a little sumpthin', so 'e did. And uh...they's out there lookin' at it." Skrann was shaking, his ale sloshing onto the floor.   
"And what exacly was it that Yungle found?" Jareth's tone was softer.. and therefore much more dangerous. Skrann knew it.   
"Twas a..uhmm..a..." But Jareth was gone. Earlier that day, while exploring his crystal collection, he had found something missing. 

A group of goblins clustered in a tight circle out in the courtyard. Jareth strode towards them, his features a dark contrast to the bright sunlight. Skrann followed close behind, feeling wretched because his friends would, like as not, lynch him for getting them in trouble with Jareth. The goblins spun around as their king's shadow fell over them. The goblin called Yungle stuffed something behind his back. Jareth smiled again. So much like little schoolchildren, caught with their mother's favorite jewelry. "And what have we here?", he asked them.   
"Uhh... nothin'...," one muttered.   
"Nothing? **Nothing?**" He extended a gray-gloved hand and the crystal flew from behind Yungle and into Jareth's possession. "No, nothing at all." He smiled in malicious pleasure. Reaching out another hand, he picked Yungle up by the scruff of his neck. He stared the blubbering goblin in the eye and said, "If you touch my propery again I will tip you straight into the Bog of Eternal Stench, do you understand me?" Yungle snuffled and nodded quickly. Jareth dropped him hard and turned on his heel.   
There was a crack! Jareth cursed. His sight crystal was broken! It was a special crystal that allowed the Goblin King to see what was happening in his Labyrinth, which was in construction. A way for him to make sure no one was slacking. A way for him to play God in his little universe. As he patched it, something began to glimmer, deep inside the crystal. As Jareth looked closer, he could see a shape...   
Sarah sobbed into her pillow, soaking it with salty tears. Her red eyes stared bleaky out into the darkened room. She shivered, pulling her gray fuzzy blanket closer around her ears. More sobs. Over in the corner, a black dress moved in the little wind from the air conditioner. Sarah saw it and wept harder. Dead!Dead-dead-dead-dead! The only word that could pass her mind and into her concious. Deaddeaddeaddead, and over and over like a chant until it was all that existed, everything, and what a terrible eternity!   
The Goblin King watched her with a little smile, a smile unlike any he had used before. This was so much more interesting than watching the green-but-slowly-working-his-way-up Hoggle trip over paving stones! The girl was what, ten years old? What could have possibly caused so much pain to one so young?   
"Sarah! Go to sleep!" A loud male voice interrupted the girl's mourning. She covered her head with a pillow, snuggling her teddy bear, Lancelot, closer. "Sarah! You won't bring her back by crying, honey." the voice said more gently. "Now get some rest. Big day tomorrow."   
Sarah. Jareth covered the crystal and sighed. Poor thing. Before he took the power from the crystal he looked around the girl's room. An odd red thing with button eyes and red yarn hair sat grinning next to a bookshelf. He started, annoyed because he was startled. It looked just like a weird animal that had taken up residence in the Labyrinth. The Firey was wild. Was he ever! He peered closer. Where _had_ she gotten it? Then he knew.   
Aileen.   
The King didn't used to be surrounded by only mindless goblins. There had once been someone else, someone of his same species. Her name was Aileen. They weren't human or goblin, Jareth and Aileen. Childhood friends. But never lovers. She had left too soon. Jareth was heartbroken that day. She had turned her head away from his questioning eyes. The beautiful dark-haired woman had fallen in love with a creature from the Aboveground, and she went to him. Jareth indulged in his own cruel belief that Aileen was unhappy with him. It was the only reason he could think of. What could an Abovegrounder give her that he could not? So he was miserable. And his broken heart festered.   
Wow. Jareth sat down abrupty in disbelief. No. No! This Sarah....Aileen's...daughter???? Couldn't be! Though it would explain the stuffed Firey and the Hoggle bookend (Aileen had always had a soft spot for the dwarf when he was growing up-was this why Jareth was so hard on him?). But look at the girl! She was so unhappy. With Aileen as a mother (Jareth's heart leapt, and he pushed it back down sternly) who could be sad? Who could be... He saw the black clothing. Even in the dark bedroom, the dress jumped out at him. Now, Jareth had seen enough of the Aboveground to know what a black dress and a weeping child meant together. "She should have known. Should have known she could never survive up there for long. All her fault...dead...Aileen!" The king gasped in wonder as a black tear welled in his eye. He caught the liquid onyx on his finger. He stared at it. It glittered like the crystal in his other hand. And inside that crystal, Sarah, daughter of Aileen, cried as well. 


	2. Love Without Your Heartbeat

  
Same disclaimer as before ^_^ Thanks for coming back! 

()xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx()::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::» A sword ^_^ 

Time passed, as it's known to do. Jareth's Labyrinth became more and more complex every day.He smiled as he watched the progress, and sighed to himself as he thought about it. Was he really building the maze to keep out intruders? Who was going to invade them anyway? Jareth didn't know, but he liked to tell himself that because he knew it was better than the alternative: He was building it to keep someone in. He sighed again and shifted his chin to his other palm. "Hogwart! Bring me the crystal." Jareth yelled at the little dwarf next to his throne.   
"Here ye go. Will uhh..will that be all?" Hoggle asked in his gratey voice.   
"Yes, yes, quite well, Hogwart. Begone." Jareth waved him off distractedly. The crystal knew what it was supposed to do the second Jareth brought it to magical life. Sarah's room blinked into view. The Goblin King smiled fondly as he looked around for the girl. It had been nearly five years since he watched the crying child. Now she was fifteen, taller, more graceful. More beautiful every day. Jareth loved watching her. And he had been working on a charm, a very special one. But it wasn't ready yet. Now, something caught at the king's eye. It was a poster, hanging next to Sarah's bed. Jareth marvelled at the sight of it. Stairs and archways, light streaming in for all directions! Which way was up? The King didn't know. He peered closer. _M.C Esher_. A title? He felt the spark of inspiration. "Hogwart!" The dwarf appeared. "Do you see this?" Jareth showed Hoggle the poster in the crystal. The dwarf turned confused beady eyes to his king.   
"What's it fer?"   
"Take a good look and then go tell the architects that I want my castle to look like _that._" The Goblin King ordered, hoping that this wouldn't be too much for the idiotic servent to do at once. The dwarf nodded and took off. Jareth was pleased. His very own full-sized representation of the _M.C. Esher_. Big smile.   
Now, back to work on the charm.   
*********************************   
A couple hours later, it was finally ready. A charm that would turn Jareth into an owl! He wanted to be an eagle, but lacked the discipline needed to make something so big. He wanted to see Sarah _now!_ So, an owl. But an owl could fly across realms. An owl could go to the Aboveground.   
And so he sat, not knowing that owls aren't usually outside during daylight hours. Or really, dusk. All he knew was, there she was. Reading, of all things, a book entitled "The Labyrinth". More gifts from Aileen. Jareth gulped. The usual pang that came from thinking of her didn't arrive when looking at her daughter. _A bad sign_, he thought.   
"Give me the child." _Sweet music,_ thought the king, feeling more tender every minute.   
"Through dangers untold and hardships unnumbered, I have fought my way here to the castle beyond the Goblin City to take back the child that you have stolen... for my will is as strong as yours...and my kingdom as great!" BOOM! Thunder shook the park, courtesy of Jareth. That next line! A twist of the knife in his heart.... Sarah gave a little gasp at the loud thunderclap. Jareth was sorry...he didn't mean to scare her!   
"Damn...I can never remember that line...you have no power over me." Jareth winced, talons not unlike the ones he currently possessed digging into his soul. It began to rain, and Sarah hurried home. Jareth followed, lighting just outside her window.   
**********************************************   
He had the chance in his hands! Right now! Ever since he had seen Sarah crying in her bed with only a teddy bear the comfort her, all Jareth really wanted to do was make her happy. For Aileen's sake. That had evolved so many times! First it was, "Well, Aileen, you were cruel to me, but I'm going to be very nice and be fatherly to your daughter, since I should have been to begin with!" Then it was "I'll just be nice to her...I don't know why...". Then he fallen completely in love with the girl as she reached the right age. Maybe it was the large amount of Aileen he saw in her. No, couldn't be... he was pretty sure he loved her for being Sarah. He stopped wondering when the thought of "When you watch a girl every night for five years, you are bound to fall in love." and kept it. It just wasn't right for a King of Goblins to fall in love! Besides, he was so much older! A good two hundred years! So, he was going to wait until _she_ was older, then charm one of them so they were the same age. That way, they could live to be hundreds of years old together. But the chance was _right here_! Would it present itself again when she was twenty? Twenty-five? Maybe he could keep her in the Underground until she was old enough. Yeah. And it was with this plan in mind that Jareth took Toby to his now-completed castle.   
You know what happened, my readers. You know about the story, about Hoggle's betrayal (He picked Hoggle to do this job...why? He knew Sarah was enough like Aileen that she would sympathize with the dwarf and trust him. And Jareth was pretty sure that someone as repulsive as Hoggle wouldn't take Sarah's heart. But still...his warnings were real!!) The crystal ball was purely coincidence. (Jareth had taken a nap and they simply shared a dream. What a simply _marverlous_ dream! Jareth awoke with chills!) And the words at the end were a last ditch effort to keep her there. A pure truth, nonetheless. Although he would gladly have been her slave, he knew she really wanted an equal love. It would make her happy, Jareth knew. He wanted her to be happy. Which is why he let her go at all, which was why he allowed some of his Undergrounders visit her sometimes.   
But when Sarah flew home in the crystal, and after the palace regenerated itself, silence fell. The goblins kept a respectable distance. Their king, the great, mighty and ruthless King Jareth, sank to the floor and sobbed like the now-teenage girl he saw so often in his dreams. 


	3. I Can't Live Within You

Ain't disclaimers purty? I sincerely hope you are enjoying this. It was very spur of the moment... hey, I don't even know the ending yet! Just a vague idea of the last paragraph! I'm writing it like I would read it, not knowing what the next sentence will be....   
~~~~~~{~~~~~~~~~{~~~~~~~~~~~~~~{~~~~~~~~~~@ -- a rose? 

Three years later. Jareth choked back tears watching Sarah, his now beloved, at her senior prom. The Abovegrounder she danced with looked...well, _nothing_ like the Goblin King. But the song in the background was like the one he heard in that dream...and her dress, so like the one she wore as she and Jareth swirled, together, across the dance floor. The King closed his eyes, imagining himself in her arms once more. He would only have to wait three more years. Then the charm would work and they would both be 21. He could see it. She'd be walking in her own special area of the Labyrinth, all paved with yellow roses and baby's breath. A warm breeze would cause her to lift her head and give a smile to rival the air's warmth. She would be smiling at Jareth. He would smile back, reaching for his wife to pull her into his embrace....they would kiss...   
..... He sat up straight. Yes, kissing was happening. But it was the Abovegrounder kissing the King's beloved...and she didn't look happy at all! Jareth nearly doubled over in sheer pain. He wouldn't have it! He was going Aboveground, risk or no! "Hoggle! Watch the castle!" The king was so distraught he actually got the dwarf's name right! But Hoggle had no time to think about it. A swirling black cloak lay where Jareth had once been. 

"There's such a sad love, deep in your eyes,   
a kind of pale jewel, opened and closed within your eyes..." 

Jareth looked down at himself in suprise. He was wearing a loose white shirt that was actually buttoned, and a pair of softly-shining, medium-baggy black pants.. _(Finally, a Jareth who's got enough sense to steer clear of hosery!)_ Not a bad outfit. He enchanted the pants, however, so that they were gray instead. His bright black shoes gleamed in the pale light as he strode over to the dancing couple. A fly on the wall. Invisible to all but Sarah. They were speaking.   
"Brian..."   
"Yes?" His voice was deep, seductive. He was in his element. A player on the only field he wanted.   
"Listen, about what just happened.." Sarah sounded frail, not the strong warrioress Jareth had last seen.   
"What? Want another one?" Brian grinned. This was fun! She was harder to convince than most girls he had..had.   
"No! Brian! Stoppit!" He was trying to kiss her again, trying to get her against the nearing wall, trying to hold her still...   
"STOP! Damn you! Get off!" She shrieked in fury to match the feeling she was engulfed in when she was last a at a dance...the crystal ball. In fact, the punch had been peach-flavored. Sarah had, of course, ignored it. But Brian hadn't. And she could read his breath: the punch was spiked!   
Dancers chuckled. Brian had another one! And the weird girl, yet! The girl who did nothing but read that silly red book. Some big word starting with an "L". Didn't matter.   
"No! You..." Sarah gasped in panic. Her eyes, frightened and searching, caught Jareth's, and he felt his heart drop, to shatter into a million shards on the cold floor. Like the sight crystal he had so laboriously repaired two weeks before.   
"Jareth!!! I wish for you to help me!" She screamed, a muffled sound with Brian's lips cutting off the words. Deep, so deep inside, she chided herself for being the maiden in danger, for needing rescued...especially by...._him_! The angry Goblin King came up behind his love's attacker. Hurtling forward an invisible hand, he picked the teenager up the same way he picked up Yungle so long ago. He tossed Brian across the dance floor as easily as a wind. The teenage boy stood shakily and tore out of sight, an odd prickling sensation burning around his neck where the invisible King had grabbed him.   
Sarah fell to the floor and cried, her tears staining her white dress. Her long black hair hung in damp wisps around her face. Jareth longed it brush them out of her eyes, to stroke the soft white skin...being the Goblin King to come and take this pain of hers far away from her....But no. Never. Sarah looked up quickly. Was he really there? A figment of her nightmares. "You!" her breath straggled out of her. "You ruined my life! You... **vile**..." Jareth felt as if someone had switched off all the lights inside his soul, tossing him into blackness.   
"Go on.." his voice was but a whisper.   
"Everyone thinks I'm crazy! You were so cruel! It's not fair! How could you just...just...how could you just..." she broke off, to enraged to continue. The dancers ignored her. Weird girl who talked to air.   
"Goodbye Sarah." The King turned to go. As he did, Sarah heard, "You never were one for gratitude...such a pity."   
"Jareth?" He left her staring into the crowds, tears streaming from her eyes. She sat down again, having risen to run after him. What was going _on_???   
********************************************   
Jareth sang to no one, alone in the tallest tower of the castle. He loved her so much! Now his heart belonged to a girl just out of college, about his age, mathematically. But his heart wrenched when he thought of her, and new tears, still jet-black, graced his eyes. His Labyrinth was still perfect as ever, and he spent many a lonely hour in the oubliette, walking and pondering.   
It would be so easy to jump... he would fall.. his boots scraping the ledge as he toppled to the courtyard.. the loving stones rising to embrace him like a lover he hadn't seen in years..falling...   
"...falling....falling...falling in love...."   
And a warm collision with the ground. Sarah would never know...she would never miss him. She never missed him anyway! Right? Jareth had spent the past few years wondering. She was never without her copy of _The Labyrinth_. She kept it in her purse. And a folded-up copy of the "Through dangers untold" speech in her back pocket. Just in case, Jareth was sure. Gone from him, and afraid of his return. Just like her mother! Just like her! His fingers tightened on the stone sill. To fall, yes, to die. Hurtling forver into oblivion. A forever without Sarah...or Aileen, for that matter. Aileen. What of her. Jareth didn't care. Females! Tcha. Who needed them?   
Liar. Liarliar! Jareth bit his lip and turned away from his temptaion and picked up another. The sight crystal. He gazed into it. And was very suprised to see her staring back at him. 

Sarah was looking at the ceiling of her new apartment. Se was weaving a letter in her mind, a letter to Jareth. He'd never get it, who cared. He hated her. Sarah was pretty sure, since she hadn't seen him, the last few years. After he saved her life. She tossed in her bed. Saved her life. Yes, that was right! The moon glared at her through the window. Such a dark moon...   
"I'll place the moon.. within your heart..."   
Sarah knew, like she always had, deep down.Everything. _Everything!_ Everything was what she wanted. She wanted to live a fantasy. She wanted a terrible tyrantic king to scare her into becoming a hero. She wanted him to call her back, though. As she flew home, she saw his face, ripped in agony only the two of them would understand. And she had needed him, like she had said. But he hadn't come.   
How confusing.   
"I'm sorry Jareth...." she whispered quietly. And as she fell asleep, "I wish the Goblins would come and take _my heart_ away. Right now!"   
"And what do you propose I do with it?" And Jareth was there, smiling mockingly at her, as always. Sarah smiled sleepily. A beautiful apparition. Everything about her longed to go to him, to wrap her arms around him, to sob into his chest and tell him she was sorry again and again, until he believe her.   
"You'd be so much easier to forgive.... if you weren't so damned arrogant."   
"So I'm told."   
"But I do...."   
"You do forgive me?" Hope leapt and took flight.   
"No....I want you to take my heart away..please....release me..." The bird Hope was shot down by the huntress's cruel arrow. She meant it, there was no sleepy cushion now.   
He stood, unchecked onyx tears dripping onto his shoulder. Jareth squeezed his eyes shut tightly and took her hand. "Is that what you want?"   
"I'm sorry, Jareth. I can't love you...I need one of my own kind. That's the way it's done." _Her own kind._ The words stung.   
"If that is the way things are done, then, that is the way you must do it..." Jareth spoke tonelessly.   
He began to lift into the air, taking with him any memory she had of him, of the Labyrinth, of anything unusual and splendid in her life. He waved goodbye, a small gesture of a dove-grey gloved hand. Vanished. All memories but one: The last words Sarah heard that night before she dripped into sleep.   
"I...can't...live..with..in...you..." 

************************************   
Jareth sat in empty space. "So, this is a villian's lot at the end of a tragic story. I am the evil of the _Labyrinth_. I was created so that I could suffer. Only to suffer, and to give our heroine something to be heroic about. Do you see now, Sarah? Everything I do I do for you." Feeling like he had wasted a life, two lives, the Goblin King floated off, floated away. 


End file.
